Scrap yard, Saint Brieuc, France

These car carcasses are compressed and then stacked one into the other to await possible use. Before arriving in this cemetery, these old cars are dismantled, cleaned up and the parts that can be reused are taken to be sold on the second-hand market or recycled. There are about 2.000 car wreckers on French soil. They play an important part in treating the waste generated by the car market; they are the last part of the car production line and the first part of the recycling chain. In France, about 1.5 million cars are sent to the scrap yard every year. The European End of Line Vehicles (ELV) directive which makes it compulsory for car manufacturers to recycle 85% of a car’s weight since 2006 (95% in 2015) is a first step towards the sector’s sustainable and responsible management. But the car’s impact is mainly linked to how it’s used. According to the World Health Organization, 1.2 million people in the world die in car accidents every year and in Europe, car pollution causes 100.000 premature deaths a year. In the United States, there are 809 cars per 1.000 inhabitants, 37 in China and 15 in India. The circulation of cars represents 23% of the energy consumption in the United States, against 5% in China and 7% in India. American drivers account for 44% of the world fuel consumption compared to 5% for Chinese and Indian drivers combined.